Francisco Muņoz y San Clemente and his 'Reflections on the English
Settlements on New Holland'

Robert J. King

Abstract

THE significance of Francisco Munoz y San Clemente's 'Reflexiones sobre Ios
establecimientos Ingleses de la Nueva-Holanda' lies in the influence it had in causing the
politico-scientific expedition to the Pacific led by Alexandro Malaspina to include in its
itinerary a visit to the new English colony in New South Wales (see figs, i, 2).
The 'Refiexiones' presented irrefutable reasons for Spain to send her own observers
to obtain first-hand knowledge of the Botany Bay colony.